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Having established itself as a leader of innovation in the crowded Model 1911 field, Para USA — now at home here in the United States rather than Canada — there may have been no greater challenge for this company than to introduce a Plain Jane model for shooters on a budget, and who simply like no-frills pistols.
   
Get set for something of a disappointment, because there are a few frills on the Para GI Expert, and if you were expecting average accuracy, your heart will be crushed. This thing shoots like the proverbial house on fire (see photos for proof!) and that’s right out of the box with no diddling around on the dovetailed sights.


   
Para’s new GI Expert Model 1911 pistol is a back-to-the-basics handgun with some modern touches. It’s shown with the Triple Eight Cop Tool.

Having had some experience with Para products, and being hardly a stranger to the 1911 platform, when I opened the hard plastic box, it was something of a surprise. What I saw was a rather intelligently executed marriage of tradition and modern design. It kind of looks like the legendary GI pistol from two world wars, but it kind of also looks like a modern street gun with a couple of features to appeal to modern pistoleros. Overall, it looks very business-like, and appearances are not deceiving in this case.
   
The GI Expert is finished with Covert Black Para Kote, which at first glance looks like a deep black Parkerizing. Sights are basic, but as noted above, they are dovetailed front and rear, and they are of the three-dot variety, not plain black. The ejection port is lowered and modestly flared, it has a three-hole trigger, synthetic flat serrated mainspring housing, traditional small thumb safety, a basic grip safety (not a beavertail), there’s a small notch at the top of the chamber that serves as a loaded chamber indicator, narrow cocking serrations are located at the rear only and they are vertical, and the basic black polymer grips have molded checkering and they are mounted with hex-head screws. I like the skeletonized hammer but the polymer magazine floorplate projects downward a bit, and I’ve never cared for those, even though I have rubber pads on many of my street magazines for my own 1911 pistols.
   
Rail-to-rail fit is comfortably tight, but not too tight, so there’s no strain for someone trying to cycle the first round into the chamber.
   


The pistol has a lowered and flared ejection port.

Unlike other Para pistols, the stainless steel barrel in this model is not ramped, and I noticed for about one-half inch back from the muzzle, the diameter is slightly wider than on the rest of the barrel. This provides a tighter lockup to the solid bushing.
   
Fans of the original John Moses Browning design will also appreciate the lack of a full-length recoil spring guide rod. Instead, there is a traditional plug and guide, which is how I prefer a 1911, so it may be field stripped quickly without the need for any tools or little pins to stick through a rod to hold back the recoil spring.
   
Okay, off to the range. My test pistol (Serial No. G103136) went through a function-firing without a hiccup, so I loaded up a couple of magazines — the GI Expert comes with two in stainless steel that have solid polymer followers — and went to work. I don’t know how else to make this clear: That pistol hit every damn thing I aimed it at, including tin cans, pieces of clay targets, a 1 ½-inch-wide stick about 6 inches long about 20 yards out from the firing line, and of course, my Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C B-27 target. Take a good look at that target. You may be able to count what appears like 26 holes. I fired 30 rounds into that thing from 20 yards using a two-hand hold without a rest, and a variety of ammunition mixed and matched in two different magazines.
   


Para fits this model with a skeletonized hammer, traditional thumb safety, basic grip safety and dovetailed sights front and rear.

One supposes that this pistol’s accuracy should come as no surprise, since the current generation of Model 1911 clones is proving to be much more accurate than various brand guns from the late 1970s or 1980s that I have fired out of the box. I continue to be delighted with each new 1911 I shoot these days, because manufacturers appear to have eliminated a lot of the bugs that cropped up “back in the day” and to find any of these new guns shooting poorly would surprise me.
   
My ammunition choices included Winchester and Federal 230-grain FMJs, Federal Hi-Shoks, Winchester SXTs, Remington Golden Sabers and some handloads. Everything went where it was supposed to go. The pistol did not have one failure to feed or eject, no stovepipe jams, no malfunctions at all. Brass was ejected wide to my right and slightly to the rear.


   
At 20 yards, Workman put rounds consistently into the 10-ring on this Birchwood Casey target.

I did notice that the thumb safety seemed rather difficult to engage, and it did not “snap” into place but sort of “slid” upward. That was annoying, but since it did not affect the pistol’s accuracy, I’ll let that one slide a bit. If this were my gun, I would have taken it apart and either worked on the safety a bit or installed a different one. Disengagement was more positive with a felt “click” that was also audible. Once engaged, it was solid.
   
Trigger break was crisp at about 4.5 pounds, and there was absolutely no creep.
   
I packed the pistol around in a High Noon horsehide holster and it fit like a glove. I also tried it in an old GI shoulder holster, and the GI Expert looked like it had always belonged there.



Look closely. There appear to be 26 holes in this target. Workman put 30 rounds through it.

Conclusion
   
If someone is looking for a real bargain in a .45 ACP Model 1911, the GI Expert could be the end of your search. It’s not fancy, it’s not flashy, and compared to other pistols that do not deliver any better accuracy, it’s not expensive, either! GDTM
   
Para USA
10620 Southern Loop Blvd.
Dept. GD
Pineville, NC 28134-7381
(704) 930-7600
www.para-usa.com